Students with name tags

Just when we had become accustomed to seeing vast areas of Fletcher unpopulated by students, along comes a group of eager learners sporting name tags. They’re here this week for a Summer Institute that Fletcher offers jointly with the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict. I’ll let the Institute organizers describe the program:

The Fletcher Summer Institute is an intensive one-week executive education program on the advanced study of nonviolent conflict and civil resistance. The program is held annually at the Fletcher School for a variety of international professionals, journalists, campaign organizers, coordinators, scholars, and policy analysts.

As cases of civil resistance multiply, it is essential that international professionals, journalists, scholars, and policy analysts understand how this form of struggle is generated, the strategies that make it effective, and how it can be fostered and learned. The Institute will address these and other issues, such as: How are nonviolent movements sustained and democratic transitions completed? How do movements deal with violent flanks as well as extreme repression? Historical and contemporary cases will be examined, including campaigns for social and environmental rights as well as political struggles against foreign occupiers and authoritarian rulers.

Both the participants’ presence at Fletcher and the Institute content seem very timely!